The causes of many health behaviors are deeply rooted in our culture, and using a counseling model that assumes individual control and responsibility for these behaviors can cause patients to feel hectored instead of helped.
When deciding whether to offer deep brain stimulation earlier than usual for Parkinson disease, it is important to consider not only the patient’s autonomy but also the validity of the evidence and concepts of harm that are being used to form practice policies.
AMA Journal of Ethics editor Audiey Kao, MD, PhD, interviewed Richard Pan, MD, MPH, about how, as a physician and legislator, he seeks to protect public health in light of recurrent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases.
Levan Atanelov, MD, MS, Steven A. Stiens, MD, MS, and Mark A. Young, MD, MBA
Physical medicine and rehabilitation has developed into a medical specialty that aims to restore optimal patient function in multiple dimensions of life with an interdisciplinary approach to care delivery.
The experience of an English professor dying of ovarian cancer in Margaret Edson’s play Wit shows that both literary and medical discourse obfuscate and objectify rather than promote communication of “simple human truths” that dignify life and death.
James F. Thrasher, PhD, Amira Osman, MPH, and Dien Anshari, MS
Existing scientific evidence suggests that HWLs that graphically illustrate the harms of smoking should be used to effectively inform consumers and would-be consumers about these risks, but legal challenges from the tobacco industry have delayed their implementation.
When a seriously ill mature minor and his parent disagree about his receiving an experimental intervention, who should decide what treatment he will receive?
Eric Trupin, PhD, Sarah Cusworth Walker, PhD, Hathaway Burden, and Mary Helen Roberts
Mental health diversion programs show promise in effectively addressing the treatment needs of youth with mental health and substance use disorders who come in contact with the justice system.